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Chris Taub
Christopher Michael Taub (generally referred to as "Taub", but “Chris“ to his wife) is one of three new teaching fellows hired by House in Season 4. He is portrayed by actor Peter Jacobson. In 2009, Yahoo TV chose Jacobson's portryal of Taub as one of their Most Valuable Performers, noting that Taub was often "the sole voice of reason among these misguided doctors, and we like that he just tells it like it is. Someone has to speak up and call people (even House) on their bull, and that seems to fall to Taub, who might be the only grown up on the show".http://tv.yahoo.com/slideshow/512/photos/1 History Early Life Almost nothing is known of Taub’s life before he entered medical school, and he is usually evasive when talking about it. He tells a story about a resident who was on top of everything who everyone went to to solve their own problems who later tried to take his own life. He has denied he was talking about himself, but some of his co-workers do not believe him. Taub has revealed on several occasions that he is a non-practicing Jew. It has never been clear where he went to medical school, but Johns Hopkins Medical School is a likely choice as he interviewed Martha M. Masters when she applied to study there. When Eric Foreman saw Taub’s credentials file during the episode Lockdown, he described it as possibly “the best one in the hospital”. Taub was published in the New England Journal of Medicine at the age of 26 based on lab work he completed the previous year. During medical school, he met his future wife Rachel, whom he married shortly before he started his internship. They have now been married for 22 years, according to what he tells Masters ("Larger Than Life"). Medical Career He took a residency in plastic surgery, obtained board certified status and became extremely successful, although he did take time out at one point early in his career to lead a team of plastic surgeons to Bangladesh to fix cleft palates. He then largely fell into a comfortable routine of cosmetic surgery which made him a wealthy man. However, apart from a rare reconstructive case, the routine led him to seek excitement elsewhere. He had a string of affairs with women who were generally much younger than he was. This habit led to his downfall. The Downfall Sometime at about the end of Season 3, Taub started an affair with a nurse at his medical practice, the daughter of one of his partners. Although his previous affairs had been very discreet, this one became a scandal within the office when the young woman became extremely attached to him. When it became common knowledge, his partners decided to push him out of the practice and threatened to tell his wife about the affair if he didn’t agree to a restrictive non-compete clause. Fearing the effect that the revelation of his affair would have on his marriage he agreed to the terms and covered by telling his wife that his resignation from the practice was the result of a patient’s death. However, it was clear to Taub that unemployment would make it difficult to maintain his lifestyle. Desperate for other work, he applied for House’s open fellowship position. As An Applicant Taub nearly didn’t make it more than a few minutes. In The Right Stuff, Gregory House mis-counted the number of applicants he had in the room and Lisa Cuddy pointed out to House that he didn’t have enough money to pay 40 applicants given the budget constraints. He fired “Row D” which contained Taub, but once he saw Number 19 he changed his mind and fired “Row C” instead. Taub didn’t back down after that. He jumped in when House started allowing the applicants to ask questions of the patient. However, his stroke of genius was to suggest covering a lung biopsy by doing breast enhancement surgery because the scar would be in the same place. He got the patient’s consent by telling her that men would respect her more when her breasts were bigger, and did the surgery himself. He was worried when a man in the operating theatre came up with the right diagnosis, but relaxed when House told him that he had no intention of hiring the man. In 97 Seconds, Taub survived on the men’s team when the women’s team got the diagnosis but botched the treatment. By Guardian Angels, Taub starts to get very worried when it appears that House wants to hire a non-doctor, Henry Dobson. Taub and Dobson argue over several possible diagnoses, and House always seems to side with Dobson. However, when the time comes to dismiss one of the applicants and it’s down to Taub and Dobson, Taub is astounded that House keeps him. House’s trouble with Dobson was that they thought too much alike. Taub does not distinguish himself in Mirror Mirror, but the mirror patient pegs him as wanting to get involved with Amber Volakis. Taub and the rest of the applicants survive when House deliberately keeps everyone on to allow Chase to win all the bets on the applicant pool and share the winnings with House. Taub also gets into trouble in Whatever It Takes, but survives when Travis Brennan is fired instead. Taub nearly blows it altogether in Ugly. When he sympathizes with a young man with a facial deformity who wants surgery, he tries to have House removed from the case. When House finds out, he fires Taub, but Taub is saved when Cuddy gives him a reprieve because the patient’s father only trusts Taub. Foreman assures Taub that he will get back in House’s good books if he helps him with the case. House also gets curious about Taub - he’s much older than all the other applicants. He does research and finds out that Taub’s ex-partners won’t talk about why he left and that his wife thinks it’s about a dead patient. Taub gets defensive, but admits he quit to keep his affairs quiet. House realizes that Taub risked his job when he had nowhere else to turn and is impressed. He fires Samira Terzi instead. In You Don't Want to Know, Taub is a willing participant in the contest to get immunity and a chance to choose the next possible dismissal by stealing Cuddy’s thong. He unsuccessfully tries to spill coffee on Cuddy, but also thwarts Amber’s plan to get Cuddy wet by setting off the sprinkler system. However, when Jeffrey Cole wins the contest, Taub unsuccessfully tries to bribe him to choose someone else to be fired. However, in the end, it turns out Cuddy and Cole are in it together to try to get rid of Amber or Lawrence Kutner and House fires Cole instead. In the final 4 for Games, House asks for advice on who to keep. Once Taub threatens Chase into cooperating with the crazy plan they have for the patient, Chase advises House to keep him to get things done. Cuddy, in an attempt to manipulate House, tells him to pick Taub because Taub will stand up to him and that’s what he needs. In the end, Taub is one of the successful applicants. Season 4 Taub starts examining his life more closely in Don’t Ever Change when he treats a woman who recently embraced Hassidic Judaism. Although Taub isn’t particularly religious, he started to think about how contented the couple seemed to be with their lifestyle, even thought the patient used to be a fun loving record producer. He finds a similar attitude when they treat the soap opera star in Living The Dream who is tired of his shallow life despite his fame. When Amber dies an untimely death, he finds solace with his wife. Season 5 When House hires a private eye to spy on his own team, he soon learns that Taub’s wife has been keeping a large secret bank account. House keeps reminding him about it and Taub’s curiosity soon gets the better of him and he breaches the subject with his wife, only to find out that she has been saving money to buy him an expensive car. House predicts that Taub is going to be crushed under the guilt of this selfless gesture and, as predicted, when Rachel presents him with the car, he reveals the details of his affairs to her. After several weeks of sleeping on the couch, Rachel finally embraces him again. Taub gets involved in Kutner’s scheme to make money by providing second opinions over the internet in House’s name, but House eventually discovers the scheme and cuts himself in for 50% of the profits. However, his finances strain when his lower salary and investment losses start to mount. He nearly falls for a con man’s pitch to allow him to invest in a new surgical instrument. However, the incident (where he threatened to quit) strains his relationship with House, who starts to wonder if Taub is still capable of doing his job. Kutner tries to help out by giving Taub credit for a diagnosis, but House is satisfied - the attempt showed that Taub still cared about his job. However, Taub's growing closeness to Kutner turns tragic when Kutner mysteriously commits suicide. At first, Taub appears to be the least concerned of the fellows, and presses on with the current case. However, when the case is over, Taub breaks down crying. He's soon back into the thick of things and when House is incapacitated by his growing neuroses, it's Taub who steps up to the plate in the case of a 14 year old wrestler and eventually his theory that the patient is suffering from sarcoidosis is proved right. Taub also steps up in the case of a young ballerina, saving her feet (at the risk of her life) by using vasodilators to restore circulation after her surgery. Season 6 Taub's future is uncertain when House leaves for rehab, but agrees to stay on the staff. However, when it's announced that House isn't coming back to diagnostics, Taub sees the opportunity to return to a lucrative plastic surgery practice without fear of retaliation from his former partners. He's soon back doing tummy tucks and boob jobs. However, when House decides to come back, he starts agressively pursuing Taub, while insisting he isn't. House figures out a patient has Crohn's disease and teases Taub and Thirteen with test results. Taub tries to ignore House, but eventually he gets intrigued again and works with Thirteen to come to the same diagnosis. He breaks the news to his wife that he's returning to House's team, but she's angry that he's back doing grunt work just like he did when they were first married. He figures out a temporary fix - when Chase strikes House, Taub takes a picture of House's damaged face and takes credit. Rachel is just happy he stood up to him. Taub has to take another cut in pay when a practical joke he and the rest of the team were playing on Eric Foreman backfires. Thinking that Foreman is about to leave because he lied to Cuddy about having another job offer, Taub, Chase and Thirteen beg Cuddy to give Foreman a raise out of their salaries. As it turned out, Foreman figured out their plan and lied to them about planning to leave. Taub's relationship with Rachel remains strained due to his revelations of his previous affairs. He decides to make it up to her by proposing a second marriage ceremony. Rachel says yes and everything seems fine, but right afterwards, Taub starts making friends with Maya, a young physiotherapist at the hospital. When Taub and Foreman are stuck in records during a lockdown, they take the opportunity to experiment with Vicodin and in their enhanced state, they each grab the other's confidential credentials file. However, when Foreman reads it, he wonders why Taub seemed so ashamed of it - Taub's credentials are superlative. It's at that point that Taub admits he always wanted to be someone like House, and instead he works under the supervision of Foreman - a man years younger than he is. He figures his promising medical career is now on the way down. Things between Taub and Rachel get more strained when Taub meets a patient in an open marriage and suggests a similar arrangement to Rachel. Rachel reluctantly agrees (on terms), but pulls back at the last minute. Taub appears to be happy with the arrangement, but the following night when he meets Maya to apologize for standing her up, they wind up making love instead. When House realizes that Taub has strayed again, he deliberately arranges for him to spend more time with Rachel. However, this leads to more deception about a ceramics class until Taub finally agrees to make up with his wife again. Season 7 Taub at first enjoys House's restrained behavior around Cuddy, but it is soon apparent that it's getting in the way of House's medical skills. He's the first one to stand up to House by telling him he will wait until House's boss confirms orders before doing anything. The remark eventually forces House and Cuddy to confront each other about it. Taub is once again confronted about his adultery when an author pegs him as a cheater just by looking at him. Taub is given the opportunity to hire the new female fellow, but feels that House is just toying with him. He finds a perfect candidate, Dr. Cheng, a pediatrician at the hospital, who is eager to get away from kids, parents and 15 cases at once. However, he feels the best course of action is to manipulate House into wanting to hire Cheng. Although House agrees to let her join the team, Cheng refuses. She's fine working with House, but realizes the other members of the team aren't grown up enough to stand up to House. Taub takes an immediate dislike to the new fellow, Martha M. Masters, but only because this genius who can "remember the 20th digit of some obscure mathematical constant", didn't remember that he interviewed her when she applied to Johns Hopkins. Masters later apologizes - she did remember him but didn't know how to bring it up. However, Taub still makes a snide remark about the way she dresses, comparing her to a tea cozy under his breath. In addition, the relationship with his wife is still strained. He learns that she has met someone online in a support group and she's sharing details of her day that she doesn't share with him. When he confronts her about it, she refuses to end the relationship, saying she needs it. After Taub become the face of Princeton-Plainsboro, their relationship seems to improve as Rachel seems more interested in Taub than ever. However, Taub realizes that Rachel is no longer happy being with him and instead asks for a divorce. Taub also begins a friendship of sorts with fellow doctor Eric Foreman. The two start out making excuses to spend time together such as challenging each others fitness in a basketball game and Foreman watching over Taub as he studies for a retake of a test he failed. When Taubs wifes brother assaults him for messing up a case for him after he offered Taub a job on the basis that it would risk the life of a patiant Foreman told Rachel the whole story knowing Taub wouldnt and was distressed at his wifes assertion that she never wanted to see him again after what he'd done to her brother. This mirrors Taubs intervention to help Foreman in the Series 6 episode "Lock Down" Since Foreman has no apparant personal life and Taubs has fallen down since his divorce the two appear to find some solace in each other though neither seems to want to admit it. After Foreman coaches Taub for his test retake and still tries to build his confidence even after Taub reveals he's all but lost it and then chooses to cheat instead, Taub gives him a widescreen tv in gratitude (although he claims its because his wife doesnt want it and its too big for his hotel room) Foreman responds with an offer for Taub to move in with him which Taub accepts and the two bond over playing video games Medical style Taub was a nearly unanimous pick of the PPTH staff (including Chase and Cuddy) for one of the fellowship positions despite being older than most fellows. His years of plastic surgery certainly haven't lessened his other medical abilities, and he was probably the most medically knowledgeable of the applicants except for Henry. In fact, his competition with Henry over a patient led to a brisk generation of diagnostic ideas. While initially criticized by the other candidates for his specialty, Taub proved himself to be quite clever, using his specialty to help House's many attempts to work around the "rules." When in The Right Stuff, House cannot figure out how to do a biopsy without alerting NASA officials or the hospital, Taub proposed the solution of covering the necessary surgery with an elective breast augmentation, which allows Chase, watching from observation, to notice the true cause of the condition. Like House and Foreman, Taub is a very objective doctor, putting aside personal feelings toward a patient in favor of finding the solution. This occasionally translates into somewhat colder behavior, such as when he remarked about a drug addict patient "I care more about my wallpaper than I care about his life". He even stayed acutely focused on a patient mere days after Lawrence Kutner's death. Taub doesn't appear to be the type of plastic surgeon who feeds his patients' vanity, and is fully familiar with how to treat major facial disfigurations that can be life altering. As he says, he sees patients the way they could be and how that will affect their life. He was apparently quite fond of his specialty, remarking to a soap opera star he worked on, "loved it - every boob job, every tummy tuck." Personality Taub is easily the most sarcastic and confrontational of the fellows, and always seems to be ready with a witty rejoinder when it is required. He has a strong sense of self and is not the type to back down when he believes he is right. However, at the same time, he seems to be the least secure of the fellows, constantly comparing the life he leads to the life he thought he should be leading at this point. He's often afraid of getting fired and has at times gotten hesitant about the risks he regularly has to take while working with House. Alhtough he's happily married, it appears his constant affairs are a way for him to make him feel better about himself. Despite giving up plastic surgery for his wife, Taub has shown indicators for future adultery, admitting to House, "Some people pop pills. I cheat. We all have our vices." The patient with mirror syndrome saw that he was attracted to Amber's dominant personality, and the two did share a flirtatiously combative dialogue. In the Season 6 episode Open and Shut Taub asks his wife to consider an open marriage. She initially agrees but later backs out, saying she kept imagining him with someone else. Taub rededicates himself to the marriage, but later meets a nurse from the hospital and kisses her in the hospital parking lot. In the Season 7 episode Small Sacrifices Taub discovers that his wife has a close friendship with a man she met in an online support group for people with unfaithful spouses. Taub accuses her of having an emotional affair and asks her to give it up. Rachel Taub refuses. Taub has become more and more concerned about financial matters. Although he had substantial savings from his plastic surgery practice and was able to maintain his lifestyle for a while, it is clear the economic downturn has reduced his portfolio substantially and he is in danger of having to cut back. This has caused a conflict between Taub wanting to return to a higher paying career and his also wanting to do something more substantial with his medical training than plastic surgery. It has also made House question his commitment to his job. In the Season 6 episode Epic Fail, Taub quits because when he learned that House wasn't coming back, he started searching for a new job. He got an offer to join a friends surgical practice. He told Foreman that it might not be the best time, and it wasn't because of him because Taub thought that he was doing an excellent job at running the department, but he only worked at Princeton-Plainsboro because he wanted to work with House. The challenge of working with House does tend to distract Taub from his adulterous urges. As House used to abuse Vicodin when he was bored, Taub similarly got bored with his life as a plastic surgeon and turned to affairs for excitement. However, when Taub is engaged in a case, he is usually the most committed and focussed of the fellows, pulling many all-nighters that are typical for a doctor much younger than he is. Relationship with House As the oldest and most experienced of House's new team, he is the most willing to challenge House's authority. During the competition, he even went so far as to tell a patient's father that he thinks House is wrong and can have him removed from the case. House tried to fire him immediately after this and even Cuddy agreed he was out of line, but he was spared by the fact that the patient's father trusted him. Eric Foreman observed that a move like that, rather than putting him in line to be fired, actually moved him to the top of the list. Cuddy later chose Taub as one of her two choices for the team, arguing that his knowledge and combative nature would keep House focused. Since being hired, he remains the fellow House is most likely to respect, even allowing him to question whether or not House was having an affair with Amber. Taub, Chris Category:Main Characters Category:Males Category:Doctors Category:Applicants Category:Succesful Applicants Category:Featured articles